Re: [asa] Re: asa-digest V1 #6228

On Elihu

In her article on Aquinas' biblical commentaries, Eleonore Stump reviews St.
Thomas' Commentary on Job, and writes the following:

    "... while Aquinas agrees with a great deal of what Elihu...says,
Aquinas holds that it is presumptuous of Elihu, one human being among
others, to say such things to Job. Elihu is in effect arrogating to himself
the role of determining the disputation about the causes of Job's
sufferings, but, given the nature of the subject, the only appropriate
determinator of the argument is God himself. It therefore comes as no
suprise to see that Aquinas affirms much of what Elihu says, but supposes
that the first line of God's speech--'Who is this that darkeneth counsel by
words without knowledge'--is addressed to Elihu rather than to Job, as many
contemporary commentators suppose."

She goes on to say that while many modern commentators suppose that the
subject of Job is the problem of evil and undeserved suffering, for Aquinas,
however, the subject is the "attempt to come to grips with the nature and
operations of divine providence." "The problem with Job's friends is that
they have a wrong view of the way providence operates." ("Biblical
commentary and philosophy," pp. 261-262, in _The Cambridge Companion to
Aquinas_)

Bob

----- Original Message -----
From: <mrb22667@kansas.net>
To: "David Opderbeck" <dopderbeck@gmail.com>
Cc: <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 5:06 PM
Subject: Re: [asa] Re: asa-digest V1 #6228

> Quoting David Opderbeck <dopderbeck@gmail.com>:
>
>> *Abraham argues with God over Sodom, and the passage reads like
>> someone who expects God to behave in a certain way, and not once does
>> God shut him down and say "just who do you think you're talking to?"*
>>
>> But God essentially *did* say that to Job.
>>
>
> And that (Job) is a great example of the sovereignty side. But even
> there it
> is interesting that his friends (with the exception of Elihu!!?) are so
> sharply
> reprimanded by God even though they were essentially trying to defend God
> (just
> as we are here) against the charge of unrighteousness. To be sure, God
> doesn't
> relent with Job as you point out, but nor does he have anything good to
> say
> about Job's friends who were busy bending over backwards trying to make
> God not
> look bad.
>
> (B.T.W. this may have been addressed in another thread I've forgotten,
> but does
> anyone know why Elihu alone among Job's friends was not singled out for
> repentence? If we put Elihu's exhortations next to those of Bildad,
> Eliphaz &
> Co., could anyone tell the difference?)
>
> I'm not a "process theologian" who thinks God changes with us as we grow
> in
> knowledge, but nor do I want to ignore scriptures. While there is a
> plethora
> of passages (Janice has pointed to some) that emphasize God's
> unchangeability, I
> still think those are not the complete story. God's incarnation into
> humanity
> (the relationship aspect of God with us) shows us this. Jesus grew and
> learned
> (even during his ministry years) -- he was capable of being amazed and
> surprised. And as I bet George would point out, the incarnation is
> timeless and
> eternal from the beginning. I think God allows himself to "act like a
> human"
> sometimes (ultimately in Jesus himself) just for the purpose of relating
> to us.
> The psalms and prophets are full of a God who has quite the human-like
> mood
> swings. Abraham, Moses, & presumably the psalmists are not punished for
> questioning God. Others may be. I just don't want to leave that side
> out.
>
> --merv
>
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Received on Wed Oct 18 22:35:30 2006